Heart valve disease is a serious problem that involves the malfunction of one or more valves of the heart. The malfunction can manifest itself in a variety of manners. For example, valve stenosis is the calcification or narrowing of a native heart valve. As a result, the native heart valve is not able to completely open and blood flow through the native valve is impeded or restricted. Another example of heart valve disease is valve insufficiency. Valve insufficiency is the failure of a native heart valve to close properly to prevent leaking, or backflow, of blood through the valve.
Various methods have been developed to treat heart valve disease. Some of these methods require a balloon member that is expanded within the native heart valve. For example, a balloon member can be used in a valvuloplasty procedure where the balloon member is positioned within the native heart valve and expanded to increase the opening size (i.e., flow area) of the native heart valve and thereby improve blood flow. Another procedure that can be performed is a valve replacement, in which a native heart valve is replaced by a prosthetic heart valve. The implantation of a prosthetic heart valve in the heart can also involve the expansion of a balloon member in the valve annulus. For example, the balloon member can be used to increase the size of the native valve prior to implantation of the prosthetic valve and/or it can be used to expand and deploy the prosthetic heart valve itself. In some procedures, the prosthetic heart valve can comprise a self-expanding device that is capable of expanding within the annulus upon being released from a constrained state.
The effectiveness of such procedures is contingent, at least in part, upon the position of the balloon member and/or prosthetic device within the native heart valve during expansion of balloon member and/or prosthetic device. However, delivering and maintaining the position of the balloon member and/or prosthetic device within the annulus of a native heart valve during these procedures can be challenging due to various environmental conditions in the surrounding area, including, for example, blood flow, pressure changes, and movement of the heart and related vessels of the patient.